Flint Review: The Lint Roller of the Future

Editor Shannon McMahon is always planning her next trip and often writing in her travel journal. Follow her on Twitter @shanmcmahon_ and on Instagram @shanmcmahon.

Shannon joined SmarterTravel in 2015. A former news reporter, she's lived in the south of Spain, walked around much of Europe, spotted elephants in Sri Lanka, and gone spelunking in the Caribbean. Travel trends, news oddities, and her visits to up-and-coming destinations are some of her favorite things to write about.

Her stories have also appeared online on Boston.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Business Insider, blog.TripAdvisor.com, and more. Her educational background is in journalism, art history, gender studies, Spanish, and film. She's always open to movie suggestions.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "Plenty of extra thick hair elastics. They tame my frizzy curls and come in handy in a surprising number of packing and hotel dilemmas."

It’s tough to keep clothes looking fresh when you’re traveling, whether they’re wrinkled after a long flight or bathed in fuzz and pesky static cling from being stashed in a suitcase. There’s thankfully now an incredibly travel-friendly way to avoid the consequences of that latter problem, not to mention a savior to pet-owning travelers—a lint roller that stashes itself away instantly.

Flint is a retractable adhesive lint roller that’s refillable and about the size of a portable back-up phone charger. It won’t take up valuable luggage space, or stick to the contents of your bag. Covering those long-handled lint rollers with a crumpled sheath of plastic is now a thing of the past, and no one will be able to guess you’re a pet owner just by looking at your clothes if you keep one on hand.

Flint Review

Price and Where to Buy Flint: $6.99 each from the Container Store. Refills come in packs of two for $4.99.

How Flint Rates:

Usefulness: 8/10. Flint’s roller opens with the turn of a nob and retracts instantly when you press down on the open roll. This gives the closed roller a sleek and packable shape—it can fit in a small purse, a desk drawer, or the narrow outer pockets of a carry-on bag. Where it lacks is in the adhesive. The sheets and their refills are only available through Flint, and they’re not as sticky as I’d like them to be. Scotch or 3M rollers seem to have more pull to them, but Flint can get the job done after taking a few more swipes than you’d normally need.

Value: 8/10. At $6.99 each you can get one for work, home, and travel that will last months on end. The refills, however, don’t seem to hold as many sheets as other brand lint rollers. Pet owners with heavy-duty needs will likely need to buy refills more often—and coupled with the lesser adhesive, users might find themselves going through rolls quickly.

Durability: 10/10. The roll has a hard cover and fits almost anywhere, making it far less susceptible to damage than standard lint rollers.

Cool Factor: 10/10. These come in an array of colors—black and navy to easily hide away, and orange, pink, and aqua for style points.

Final Verdict: If you’re nitpicky about keeping pet hair at bay and don’t travel often, Flint’s convenient yet less-adhesive rolls might not be for you. But if your lint-removal needs are average and you like to have the option on the go, Flint solves a lot of problems. I personally don’t own a pet and constantly find myself reaching for tape to de-lint my clothes whether I’m traveling or at work, so Flint was perfect for my purposes. I keep one in my travel bag and one at the office.

The design is without a doubt the most futuristic one out there when it comes to fighting off vexing hair and lint.

Associate Editor Shannon McMahon writes about all things travel. Follow her on Twitter@shanmcmahon_.

Editor’s Note: Reviews are based on usefulness, portability, durability, value, and cool factor. Some review products are sent to us free of charge and with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions, positive and negative, and will never accept compensation to review a product. If you have any questions or comments concerning our reviews, or would like to suggest a product for review, please email us at editor@smartertravel.com.

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